Sword x Sword
by WillieG.R
Summary: *Sukima-series spin-off* After an interview with Akyuu, Rika and Tenshi, along with Youmu, find themselves running from a powerful spirit for the sake of their swords. Many of the cast will be run over before the end, and can the girls keep their swords?
1. Chapter 1

Morning at the Hakurei Shrine.

Summer is soon to come to an end and autumn is ready to come in its stead.

The trees around the shrine are starting to lose their bright green color, the leaves slowly turning to yellow, red and orange.

At the back of the shrine, after having recovered from becoming a little girl due to a powerful spell, Rika trains harder, pushing herself a little more in order to make up for lost time, but knowing she still managed to put in some training with her old wooden sword while a child, she feels confident she doesn't need to push herself too far... though she will if she has to.

She has set up a total of 27 wooden dummies, all lined up in groups of five dummies per line, and two at the end of the small army, to look like a well-organized platoon.

She stands several feet away from her first target, bending her body while holding the hilt of her sword, then very suddenly, she rushes to it.

She cuts through the first line in a single swing, and as soon as she rushes toward the second line, she activates her Soraogan mode and cuts the second, third and fourth lines in what seems to be an instant.

She jumps high in the air and flips, and while upside-down, she swings her sword rapidly, cutting the last line of dummies to shreds, and finally, the last two remain, and as soon as she lands on the ground again, she rushes toward them and slices through them with ease, then sighs with an accomplished look on her face.

While sheathing her sword with one hand, she swipes the sweat off her face with another, then realizes she has company.

As soon as she looks to the Shrine's porch, she realizes she's being watched by Keine Kamishirasawa, the history teaches of the Human Village.

While clapping, Keine approaches Rika, holding a letter on her right hand, saying "well, that was impressive. You seem to be getting better and better, miss Rika."

Rika smiles and says "phew, thanks. If I am to help my lady Reimu it is imperative I keep in top shape after all."

Keine continues to smile while waving the letter in front of Rika, who asks "and what's this?"

While still smiling, Keine replies "you've been invited to the mansion of miss Akyuu Hieda. She wishes to interview you."

Surprised, Rika asks "me? But why?"

Keine giggles and says "now, miss Rika, where's the fun in telling you?"

Keine offers the letter to Rika, who stares at Keine with confusion, but decides to open it and see for herself what this is all about.

When she opens the letter, she reads

"_Dear miss Rika, I wish to invite to my mansion so that I may interview you, and add to my records about your battle with the celestial, miss Tenshi Hinanai, as well as a proper profile of yourself. It is imperative that you come and tell me all about it. As much as you can remember. I've asked miss Keine to ask for Reimu's permission for this. I'll be waiting for your arrival. Attently, Akyuu Hieda._"

When Rika finishes reading, she looks up at Keine, but finds that she's not there anymore, and after raising her sights a bit more, she finds her talking to Reimu in front of the side entrance to the shrine already.

Reimu gestures Rika to get closer, just as Ail, Ayalina and Budou approach Reimu from the shrine's front yard.

Before Rika can ask, Reimu smiles and says "I think it's a great idea that you go there. It's very important that you tell her the tale."

Rika smiles and asks "will you be alright, my lady?"

Mima appears from underneath the floor between Keine and Reimu, rests and elbow on each shoulder, then says "don't you worry about a thing. We'll take care of Reimu for you."

Rika smiles nervously and says "well... that is, um..."

Before she can finish, Reimu angrily says "I'm not just some little girl, you know! I can take good care of myself, so Rika, YOU are going with Keine to meet with Akyuu, and I don't want to hear any buts about it, understand?"

Rika seems to take Reimu's sudden outburst a little harshly, and with wriggling lips and trembling a bit, she bows and says "a-as you with, m-my lady."

Reimu can't bear to see Rika like that, and excitedly says "whoa, whoa, don't cry. Look, I can take care of myself, so you don't have to worry so much."

Rika recovers herself and straightens up, then smiles and says "I-I'm sorry my lady. I just worry about you."

Keine smiles as she says "yes, this is all fine, but before we go, you might want to take a bath."

Rika's cheeks turn pink after realizing she's all sweaty, and after a nervous nod, she hurries to the bathroom, while Reimu looks at Mima with a murderous smile and says "your elbow is starting to hurt."

Mima smiles as she jumps behind Keine, seemingly afraid, and says "uuu, sorry. Don't kill me."

Ail, Budou and Ayalina look at each other, then Ayalina suddenly says "oh that's right, I forgot to make breakfast this morning. See you later Ail, Budou, Reimu. Behave~", then disappears, leaving a small patch of flowers on the ground.

Ail and Budou stare at each other, making Reimu giggle and say "come on, I promised you two breakfast, and Mima, you are helping me."

* * *

Later that day, Rika and Keine float down from the sky and land right in front of the large mansion of the Hieda family.

Rika admires the large mansion and says "wow, this place is big. Really big. I wonder how long the cleaning takes?"

Keine pats Rika on the shoulder and says "please, keeps comments like that to yourself. Akyuu is very sweet, but it's preferable to keep certain things to one's self."

Rika nods, then says "don't worry, miss Keine. Everything will be fine."

Keine smiles at Rika, then gestures her to follow inside.

They come across a few servants, all bowing respectfully as they greet Keine and their special guest.

By now, due to the beautiful state of the gardens, the cleanliness and state of the mansion itself, and the high class servants that work there, Rika believes Akyuu to be a charismatic and mighty mistress of legendary beauty, wearing beautiful, expensive clothes, and jewels of the highest quality.

They arrive to a garden that is full of cats, some sleeping in front of a large room that remains closed.

Keine looks at Rika and says "we're here", and knocks on the door.

Rika feels a bit nervous as footsteps get closer to the door, and thinks "she's opening her own door? Oh my goodness! She must also be such a kind person! Oh, what should I do? How should I greet her? Oh, here she comes!"

The sliding doors quickly open to reveal the little girl who is Akyuu Hieda, though Rika does not know.

Akyuu says "Keine, you're finally here! Oh, and miss Rika! What an honor to finally meet you in person!"

Rika sighs with relief, thinking "phew, it looks like it's just her daughter. She's so polite, and so cute too."

Rika approaches the little girl and rubs her head, saying "my, how polite. And so cute too. And you say you wanted to meet me? I'm flattered."

Keine smiles nervously as a sweat drop falls down the back of her head, then asks "er, miss Rika, what are you doing?"

Rika continues to rub Akyuu's head, making her smile contently and blush light pink, showing how much she's liking Rika's petting.

Rika looks at Keine, then lifts her arm to cover her mouth in surprise as she gasps and asks "oh my, I'm sorry. Missis Hieda's daughter is just so cute. I couldn't contain myself."

Keine's smile turns rather disturbing as she says "Rika... That IS... MISS Hieda."

Rika's face turns blue as she gasps, then drops to the ground and bows, rapidly saying "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

When she looks up, Akyuu looks sad and disappointed, softly asking "why did you stop?"

From inside the room, Tenshi's confident and loud voice can be heard as she says "hahaha, silly maid girl!"

Rika's face turns ever more blue, thinking there are even more witnesses to her mistake, and in fright and surprise, she says "T-Tenshi is here too!"

This awkward moment lasts for a while with Rika bowing, Keine staring with annoyance at Rika, Akyuu almost ready to cry, and Tenshi smirking from inside the room.

* * *

Moments later, after the awkwardness pass and Keine leaves, Akyuu sits by her table and offers red tea and cookies to her two guests, and while they drink and enjoy the snacks, she reviews everything that's been told by Tenshi so far.

Rika looks at Tenshi, who simply tries to ignore her, and takes a sip from her tea.

In Tenshi's mind is the image of little child Rika, and looking at Rika now seems to disgust her a little, even though her cheeks are turning pink.

Akyuu clears her throat, then says "alright, let's go straight to the juicy stuff!"

Outside the room, Aya peeks her glinting eyes and crescent smile through a window after hearing the word "juicy", and readies her camera for anything.

Akyuu stares at Rika seriously, then asks "alright, miss Rika, please tell me all about that passionate kiss between you and the celestial."

At that moment, Rika is swallowing some tea, but after hearing that, she almost spills it through her nose, but she manages to gulp it down before that happens, leaving herself quite dizzy while blushing tomato red.

Outside, Aya is about to take some pictures, when she's suddenly stomped on hard by Hatate, who desperately whispers "what, what? Rika sis kissed with that disgusting celestial? No~"

While Hatate looks inside, she uses Aya as a support, and even stomps her when she tries to get back up.

Inside, Rika stares at Tenshi with a blushing face, then shouts "now wait a minute! Nothing like that ever happened!"

Tenshi shrugs and says "hey, hey, I know that didn't happen, but the fight alone is so boring. I added some drama and some PASSION to the tale. You know, to make it much more interesting!"

A sweat drop falls down Rika's cheek as she nervously says "bu-bu-bu... that's a lie! You can't add lies to these records! Miss Reimu said they are VERY important, and that the information must be as accurate as possible."

Tenshi sighs and takes a sip of tea, then says "fine, fine. I'm sorry."

Akyuu stares at the two girls for a moment, then stares straight at Tenshi as she asks "so I take it mister Kyo didn't lose his left leg, and miss Luna didn't go on a rampage, making you two stop the battle to stop her?"

Rika's eyes hide under her hair as she gasps loudly and looks at Tenshi with her mouth wide open while stuttering.

Tenshi picks her own teeth while looking bored toward the sky through the left side window, then says "what? I thought some side-action would liven the story up some more."

A small vein pulsates on Akyuu's forehead, and her rage-filled eyes hide under a black shadow as she asks "anything else I should know that DIDN'T really happen?"

Very relaxed, Tenshi lies down on the floor on her back, placing her hands behind her head, then says "fine, I get it. Scratch the bikini contest, the cloud chasing... oh, and the leotard dance didn't happen either."

Severely annoyed, Akyuu balls a large piece of paper and throws it straight at Tenshi's stomach, then, while trying to sound calm, she says "well, I guess we'll start from the beginning... again!"

Rika stares at Tenshi while blushing, thinking the celestial is just some pervert, while outside, both Aya and Hatate stare inside, both blushing as they imagine Rika and Tenshi running and dancing around in leotards.

* * *

Hours past, lunch has been served and eaten, and finally, after some time, Rika finishes saying "my, I was so exhausted after that pointless fight, I could barely stay awake!"

Tenshi looks completely unamused as she says "geez, how boring. My version was much better."

Akyuu smiles dangerously and says "well, you did give yourself a bigger chest than you really have."

Tenshi looks out the window and sighs, then says "my version as so much better."

Rika smiles and pats Tenshi on the back, ready to tell her how inner beauty beats outer beauty, but instead, she gasps when she spots a book next to a very old-looking scroll on a shelf.

The book has a hard dark-purple cover with a silver buckle under the words "Forger's Techniques for Stronger Artifact Weaponry."

Akyuu smiles and not noticing Rika's interest on the book, says "oh, I'll go take these to the kitchen. Please, wait for me in here."

Tenshi, sounding bored, replies "sure. I'll just count some clouds while you're gone."

Rika smiles and nods, then asks "but won't you wait for your servants to do that for you?"

Akyuu stands up and picks up the tray with the dishes and cups, and as she leaves the room, she smiles and says "it's nice to do these things for yourself once in a while, miss Rika."

Rika smiles at Akyuu, and as soon as she's gone, Rika reaches for the book, immediately noticing the silver buckle is a magical seal.

Tenshi mysteriously stands beside Rika and peeks through her shoulder, then asks "say, what'cha got there?"

Rika yelps and twitches as she turns around, saying "thi-thi-this? It looks interesting. It looks very interesting. Could make my sword stronger with this, it seems!"

Tenshi reads the title, then looks at her sword on its sheath, then says "hmm, seems interesting... but it's sealed."

Rika smiles as she activates her Soraogan mode, then says "don't worry, I can open it with my nullify ability. It should be ok, I mean, with a stronger sword, think of ALL the help I could be for my lady Reimu!"

Tenshi looks unamused at Rika and says "geez, you're like some sort of dog."

Rika ignores Tenshi's comment, and simply stares at the silver buckle on the book.

Just a few seconds later, the buckle clicks, and the book opens on its own, but to Rika's disappointment, all the pages are blank.

Tenshi tries to suppress her laughter, while Rika flips through the pages, and sounding disappointed she asks "what? There's nothing written? What a letdown."

Tenshi smirks mischievously, and jokingly says "maybe you need to draw on it with you sword's tip."

Disappointed, Rika closes the book and places it back, saying "uu, I was hoping to read something amazing. Oh well."

Meanwhile, down at the fires of the former hell, a strange rock formation with what looks like a symbol seal, starts to crack, and in just moments the entire stone shatters and a man takes a step down to the ground next to the broken stone.

He carries with him three swords on his back, and three more on each side of his waist.

His skin and samurai clothes look a pale lilac color, and his eyes look black, as though there are only the empty sockets.

He looks around and takes a deep breath, then with a soft voice, he says "someone broke the seal. I must show my gratitude to this person."

With an evil smirk and in an instant, the ghostly man runs away at incredible speeds, leaning his body forward while leaving his arms hanging in the air as he runs.

Meanwhile, Parsee sighs as she leans over the side of the bridge that connects the underground with the world outside.

She screams out of frustration after pushing herself from the ledge and says "dammit, why doesn't anyone come? It's so boring! Why can't I be out there having fun too?"

The old spirit rushes by the streets of former hell so fast Yuugi has trouble keeping up with him, saying "whoa, it's a rowdy one."

Shortly after, without Parsee realizing it, he's already on the bridge, running over her back and heading up to the cave and to the exit.

With her legs, back and hair covered in footprints, Parsee lifts her head in a daze, then looks up at the pale lilac blur and says "you'll pay for that... you...", then lets her face drop to the floor again.

* * *

That afternoon, inside Akyuu's interview room, Tenshi lies on her back, snoring lightly with a nose bubble that grows to the size of her head every time she exhales, while Akyuu and Rika continue the interview.

Akyuu asks "so, gardening, synthesizing... whatever that is, um, making things for your friends... and making kimonos? Is there anything else?"

Rika smiles and says "I love animals."

Akyuu smiles and says "but we already added all that."

On Akyuu's notes, Akyuu darkens the words "loves anything that lives", while looking into Rika's eyes.

After a short pause, Rika and Akyuu realize the room is unusually quiet, then Akyuu asks "hey, did is just get too quiet in here?"

Rika looks at Tenshi, who stands ready, as though awaiting an enemy, and before she can ask what's the matter, the sliding doors burst open, and all the cats in the room and the surrounding area hiss and growl while backing away.

Angered, Akyuu says "sir, who let you in? You are very rude, bursting through my door uninvited like that! Please get out of here now!"

On the doorway stands the ghostly samurai clothed man, who stares directly at Rika, ignoring Akyuu's demands.

He points at Rika and says "you. Thank you very much for breaking the seal that had me trapped for so long, my young lady."

Rika gasps and whispers "oh no... that book."

Tenshi exclaims "oh, now you've done it, shrine maid!"

Akyuu angrily calls "guards, we have an intruder here!"

The soul lowers his hand, then says "now, your swords; hand them over to me, if you please."

Tenshi smirks and says "well, you sure know how to show your appreciation."

Rika unsheathes her family sword and activates her Soraogan mode once more, then the soul smiles and says "forgive me. I simply must have those swords of yours."

Tenshi unsheathes her own sword, smirks, then says "well here, you can have it!"

Before long, Tenshi manages to push the soul outside the room with a single swing from her sword.

Once outside, Rika follows with a relentless attack, going back and forth, slashing the soul whenever in range, then regroups with Tenshi, both standing right in front of the door to Akyuu's room.

To their left, hiding around the corner, Aya and Hatate open their mouths in awe, then Hatate whispers "Rika sis hit him hard."

Aya recovers herself and stares seriously at the spirit, then says "she didn't even touch him."

Hatate stares at Aya with shock and curiosity, then looks back at the spirit, noticing he's sheathing two of the swords on his back.

Tenshi points at the man and says "hey, little spirit. We're giving you the chance to run from here. Just go and we won't have to hurt you."

The spirit smiles, turning his black eyes on Tenshi's sword, then says "As soon as you give me those swords, I'll gladly leave."

Rika sighs and says "sir, this sword belongs to my family. You can't have it, no matter how badly you want it."

The spirit now takes a sword from the right side of his waist and unsheathes it, saying "what a shame. Guess there's no choice now but to kill you."

Tenshi and Rika both prepare to attack seriously, then Rika says "wrong move, buddy!"

Rika takes the lead in the offensive, and starts to attack the spirit, unable to connect a single blow as he blocks each and every attack from her, even covering his vulnerable spots by simply standing in place and moving his sword around with ease.

While Rika keeps him occupied, Tenshi gets closer and shouts "get ready to fly!"

Just as Tenshi stabs the ground with her sword, Rika jumps away as the ground underneath the spirit lifts up and sends him flying to the air, however, all he does is sheathe his sword and pull another one from his back, then points it at the ground, nullifying Tenshi's attack before landing.

Frustrated, Tenshi and Rika look at each other and nod, and as if already planned, they attack the man in unison.

He unsheathes another sword with his left hand and starts to block each attack with ease, however it looks like he's starting to lose focus, and while he blocks one of Rika's attack with both swords, Tenshi takes the chance to cut his abdomen.

The man doesn't even flinch, and just pushes Rika away like nothing.

Tenshi exclaims "wait a minute! I hit you! Spirit or not, you should be in pain!"

The man sheathes his swords, smiles as he stands up straight to stare at the girls, then says "my lady, you'll find defeating me is a task of its own. Now, your swords, please."

Rika and Tenshi regroup, look at each other through the corner of their eyes, then Rika asks "run?"

Tenshi nods and says "run!"

They both sheath their swords and start running away from the spirit as fast as they can, ignoring the tengu on the porch.

Aya and Hatate make their stand in front of the spirit, who is about to give chase, then Hatate says "let's see how well you do against two powerful tengu, mister!"

Ignoring them, the man bends his body and starts to run after Tenshi and Rika, running over Aya and Hatate, leaving footprints on their faces and bodies.

Aya trembles as she asks "did... he run over us just now?"

Hatate blinks once, then says "I didn't see."

Akyuu stands on the porch, then says "you two, tengu! I need a favor from you!"

On her right hand, she holds a letter with a golden seal.

Recovering from their wounds, Aya and Hatate stare at Akyuu with curiosity, then Akyuu says "please, it's for those two girl's sake! They don't stand a chance against that soul!"

* * *

Running through the village, Tenshi and Rika come across Keine, who stands just outside the door of her school.

As the girls run toward her, she steps away from the school and smiles, asking "girls, how did the interview go?"

The girls run past her, and all they can do is warn Keine, Rika saying "look out!", while Tenshi says "RUN!", at the same time.

Keine turns around to look at the fleeing girls, then scratches the back of her head wile staring at the girls with confusion and wonderment, asking herself "I wonder what happened?"

The spirit knocks Keine to the ground and tramples her hard as he runs by.

Keine tries to get back up, but a group of children runs on her while chasing a bouncing red ball.

Trembling, Keine tries to get up once more, but Mokou flies in and lands right on top of Keine's back, calling "Keine, are you here?"

She looks down, then bends down while still on her friend's back to stare at the back of Keine's head, then asks "yo, Keine? What are you doing down there?"

Keine's body trembles again, but this time with rage, and pushing Mokou off her with a primal scream, she gets up on her feet and grabs Mokou by her shirt, shaking her around and angrily saying "stop stepping on my back! STOP... STEPPING... ON... MY BACK!"

In a fright and a daze, Mokou replies "ooh, but I just wanted to ask you something."

Keine drags Mokou to the school, angrily saying "I'm gonna have to teach you some common manners, young lady! Come here!"

As she gets dragged into the school, Mokou cries "but I didn't do nothing!"

Further ahead, Rika and Tenshi come across Maribel, who has her cat ears exposed again, and Renko.

Rika starts waving her arms in the air, screaming "miss Maribel, miss Renko, the out of the way!"

Tenshi follows Rika's lead and shouts "get your butts out of the way!"

Renko turns around , and angrily shouts "hey, who the hell do you think you..."

Maribel pokes Renko's shoulder and says "I think we better move."

Renko looks at Maribel and stays in place, saying "Mary, you have to show these bullies you're not afraid of them!"

Rika and Tenshi run past Renko, who smiles at Maribel and says "see? They just wanted to scare us."

Without warning, Renko finds herself spinning as she flies high in the air, screaming her lungs out, just after the spirit tackles her out of his way.

Maribel shields her eyes from the sun with her hand as she stares at her friend turn to a star in the sky, then sighs, lowers her cat ears, and says "I told her to get out of the way."

Further ahead, Rika says to Tenshi "we need to hurry and get out of here. He's running over everyone!"

Behind them and the spirit lie countless bodies of run over villagers, as well as Renko and Medicine, who looks around and asks "how did I get here?"

Back with the runners, Tenshi looks at Rika, seemingly bored, then says "relax, we're almost at the exit."

That's when Rika notices Luna Rivers outside her house, training with her swords at the front yard.

Rika shouts "miss Luna~ You have to run!"

Luna stares at Rika and Tenshi, and noticing their urgency, she flies out of the way, asking "what's the matter?"

Tenshi shouts back "just get out of the way!"

When she lands, Luna notices the spirit that's chasing after the girls, then shouts "Kyo! We got a troublemaker!"

Kyo jumps out the window, landing with his magical sword and shield already fully activated, and with a brave look on his face, he stands next to Luna while facing the spirit, then says "time to teach this ghost some proper manners!"

Just like that, he feels the shoes of the spirit stomping hard all over his body as he falls on his back to the ground.

Luna kneels down next to him, sighs, then says "I guess he was just too much, huh?"

Kyo simply grunts as his body involuntarily shivers in pain, his bones rattling along.

* * *

Outside the village, while still running, Rika asks "so, any ideas how we can beat this guy?"

Tenshi looks at Rika and asks "you're asking me this now?"

Rika replies "well, we're outside the village, so if we go all out, we could stand a chance."

The girls stop, then Tenshi smirks and says "hey, you're right. We should teach him some manners!"

From their left, a silver and green blur crashes against Rika and knocks Tenshi to the ground as well.

The second Rika recovers, she jumps to her feet, thinking the spirit has caught up with them, but instead, she find Youmu, wearing a green and silver gym uniform.

The undergarment she wears are sleeveless silver tights that cover down to her knees, while on top of that she wears a green leotard, and on her back she has a large dark brown basket with a lid.

Youmu jumps on her feet and start to frantically bow, repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!"

Rika pats Youmu's shoulder and says "whoa, whoa, relax. It's alright. Nobody got hurt."

Tenshi lies on the ground with sharp pain coursing through her back and grumbles to herself "sure... you keep saying that."

While helping Tenshi up, Rika asks "miss Youmu, what's with that outfit? And what are you doing over here? Miss Reimu said you rarely left the Netherworld without miss Yuyuko."

Youmu sighs and slouches, letting her arms hang in the air as she says "I am being punished for talking back to Yuyu-sama. Today's punishment is a marathon around Gensokyo while wearing this embarrassing outfit and collecting possible meals for lady Yuyuko."

From inside the basket, a girl shouts "get me out of here~"

Tenshi gasps and asks "WHOA! What does that princess eat?"

Before Youmu can answer, the spirit catches up to them and asks "so, have you decided to give me your swords?"

Youmu immediately unsheathes her swords and points them at the spirit, saying "watch your tongue, spirit, or you'll have me to answer to."

The man lays his eyes on Youmu's swords, then says "oh, two more! I must ask you to give me those swords, miss."

Youmu, Tenshi and Rika stand ready for a fight, their swords unsheathed as they glare at the black-eyed spirit, then Rika says "maybe the three of us can take him down!"

Tenshi smirks and says "you're going to learn respect the hard way, old man!"

Youmu glares at the spirit, then says "I don't know what's going on, but you already crossed the line! Surrender, and I may be kind enough to take you to princess Yuyuko myself."

The spirit simply smiles back and slowly unsheathes two swords, then says "you are all taking me too lightly. Oh well, either way, I'm taking those swords."

For a brief moment, they all stand in place, waiting to see who makes the first move, then the spirit rushes straight to Rika, saying "since you set me free, I'll be kind enough to make your death as quick and painless as possible!"

Rika raises her sword, preparing to receive a powerful attack, her mind swirling with thoughts of Reimu living on her own again, and before the spirit reaches her, Rika lets out a war cry as she rushes to intercept her attacker while Youmu and Tenshi prepare to help Rika out against the spirit.

* * *

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Budou, Ayalina, Kyo and Luna were created by Willie G.R.

Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot2010

Story by Snapshot 2010

JUL 14 2010

Written by

Willie G.R.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a beautiful golden afternoon in Gensokyo, and somewhere in the small forest just outside the Human Village, a fight against a powerful spirit is just about to unfold.

A strange spirit Rika herself freed from an ancient seal is after her, Tenshi's and now Youmu's swords, and for no apparent reason.

The three girls stand ready to intercept any attack from the spirit, then he rushes toward Rika, who rushes forward to meet him with a war cry of her own.

Rika and the spirit clash swords, looking into each other's eyes, and though Rika shows how much strength she's using, the spirit looks as though he's just playing with her, even smiling casually back at her as he easily pushes back.

Youmu and Tenshi immediately take this chance for a sneak attack, but somehow, the spirit knock's the back of Rika's right leg without her realizing it, then jumps away just before Tenshi and Youmu's attack strike him, leaving Rika's leg in his stead.

Youmu notices in time and veers her blade away, knocking Tenshi's and saving Rika, then looks behind her and says "that was a very dishonorable thing to do!"

The spirit smiles at Youmu, standing right where the girls were before, then says "my lady, I'll do anything for those swords. I was merely sparing her life."

Rika recovers and gets back up on her feet, then says "it's alright, miss Youmu. Thank you kindly for saving me. Now, let's show this spirit what we're truly made of!"

Tenshi smirks and says "way ahead of you", then pulls a spell card form under her apron and says "Scarlet Weather Rhapsody of All Humankind!"

As Tenshi's sword begins to spin in front of her, Rika and Youmu smile at each other then Rika raises her yin-yang card and says "Oath Keeper" and enters the golden gate, while Youmu stands beside Tenshi and says "Confusion-Cutting Sword, Rise from Delusion Slash!"

A red beam starts to emanate from Tenshi's sword, and Youmu's sword start glowing blue as it extends, just as Rika regroups with them, holding her sheathed wind sword and saying "Wind Sign, Neppa Senpuujin!"

Tenshi's destructive crimson beam reaches the smiling spirit, then Youmu cuts down hard with her sword straight at the center of Tenshi's beam, and after charging her sword long enough, Rika unsheathes her wind sword so fast, Tenshi can only see the wind blade that trails straight toward the spirit, but Youmu can perceive the speed in which Rika's hand moves, able to see the blur of Rika's hand and blade as she makes her move and sheathes her sword again.

Youmu's eyes reveal shock, surprise and even some anger, as she witnesses first-hand how fast Rika really is.

To her, the world starts moving slowly, forgetting to charge her own sword again while she looks at Rika and thinks "what just happened? No, this is impossible! I couldn't see her hand move! Just a blur! But that's impossible!"

Tenshi mockingly says "well, it seems the half ghost feels sorry for this poor late spirit!"

Youmu wakes up from her thoughts, only to see Rika move lightning fast, jumping over Tenshi's beam and landing on the other side, unleash another wind blade, then move around again, all in a split second.

Youmu stares at Rika, feeling both excitement and fear, and with a wide smile on her face, Youmu charges her sword once more and strikes the ground hard, making a small hole in which Rika trips and falls right on Tenshi, who bumps against Youmu, then all three fall back to the ground, Rika on top, Tenshi in the middle, and Youmu on the bottom, their spell cancelled by the blunder.

From Youmu's basket, a girl cries "what's going on? Is someone out there? Please, help me!"

Rika moans as she gets back up and says "s-sorry. I didn't see where I was going."

Tenshi grunts as she gets up and excitedly says "no matter! We WON! That spirit is NO MORE!"

Youmu slowly gets back up, rubbing her head and looking around the ground until she sees Rika's feet.

She jumps back up and glares at Rika with challenging eyes, but before she can challenge Rika to a fight, Tenshi exclaims "NO WAY!"

When Rika and Youmu look ahead, they realize the spirit is standing in the same position, and with the same smile he had when they started their attack.

Rika and Youmu gasp in horror, then the spirit simply sighs, then says "like I said before dear ladies, killing me is a task of its own. Now, if you so kindly were to give me those swords."

Rika and Tenshi look at each other with worry, then Tenshi suddenly screams "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Immediately, Tenshi, Rika and now Youmu, find themselves running through Gensokyo, headed toward the Myouren Temple.

The spirit smiles and leans his body, and just before running after them he says to himself "well, I guess a chase should be fun... and that silver haired angel... I wonder if she likes swords too?", then runs after them, following the dusty trail the girls left behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Myouren Temple, Shou is busily cleaning the stairs to the entrance of the temple, while Kogasa and Nue try to play a game of Go on the courtyard, though Kogasa constantly tries to scare Nue with a sudden "boo" or abrupt move, and always ends up knocking a piece or two, which leaves Nue looking bored and unamused.

As the three running girls approach the temple, Rika shouts "wait, we're going to the temple!"

Tenshi angrily shouts "this isn't time for religious differences!"

Youmu shouts "no, she's talking about HIM!", and points behind with her thumb at the spirit, who is still far, but seems to be gaining on them.

Rika shouts "we better go someplace else!"

Tenshi grunts and says "to hell we will!, then shouts "HEY~ Temple girls! HIDE!"

Shou, Kogasa and Nue stare curiously at the source of the shouting and see the running girls being chased by the spirit.

Shou smirks and says "well, it seems I get to exorcise an evil spirit today."

Nue, smirks while staring at Shou, then says "try not to trip this time, alright."

Shou angrily shouts back "I'M NOT CLUMSY! That was JUST an accident!"

Kogasa sighs and says "try and explain it to that poor village girl."

While Shou continues to argue with Nue and Kogasa, Tenshi, Rika and Youmu enter the courtyard, and are unaware that Nazrin is sleeping next to one of the ornamental archways with her tail spread on their path.

At first, Nazrin opens her eyes, groggily asking "eh? Wh-what's going on?"

While she rubs her eyes, the three girls run over her tail, missing it by a miracle, then stop to talk about options, only to find out the spirit is already very close.

Tenshi hops on her feet, alternating her leg every hop, then asks "what should we do? We're trapped!"

Youmu places her index finger and thumb on her forehead while thinking, then Rika flaps her wings and says "girls, we can fly, remember?"

Tenshi gasps and exclaims "this girl is a GENIUS!"

The spirit reaches the archway right before the girls and stops right on top of Nazrin's tail, waking up the mouse youkai with a sharp pain.

He looks at the girls and smiles, then notices Nazrin gnawing on his ankle while trying to pull her tail free.

He frowns at the sight, grabs Nazrin by the back of her neck and lifting his foot to lift her face-high, then stares at her as she grabs her tail and blows on the spot he stepped on.

He smiles at Nazrin and says "sorry about that", then throws Nazrin straight at Shou, making her fly right above the girls.

He turns his full attention at the three girls, then realizes they are already far away in the sky.

He sighs and shakes his head, then says "young ladies these days. Really, so impatient."

He flies after them, ignoring Shou and Nazrin, then says "well, I've been sealed for a while. I hope that beauty isn't beyond me, or I'll have to catch up with the times."

At the Myouren temple's entrance, Shou pat's Nazrin's back, saying "there, there. Don't worry, it'll get better soon."

Nazrin shouts back "sure, you don't HAVE a tail! You don't know what it's like!"

Nue and Kogasa approach the girls, Nue asking "what the hell was all that just now?"

Kogasa makes a mistake and gets too close to Nazrin's tail, so out of fear, Nazrin flip-kicks the back of Kogasa's head, making her crash on to the ground on her face and fling her closed umbrella inside.

Nazrin can't stop in time and kicks Shou on her backside, sending her down the stairs, crashing her seat on all 5 steps and the ground.

Nue ducks in time, avoiding Nazrin's kick, and says "relax girl!"

Inside, Kogasa's umbrella heads straight to Byakuren's face, who walks to the exit while wondering what all the ruckus is about.

Byakuren readies herself for impact, but Kogasa's umbrella falls short and lands on the ground.

Byakuren scratches her head in wonderment, then bends down to pick the umbrella.

Out of nowhere, Minamitsu trips and flings her hand, smacking Byakuren's behind hard, making her yelp in pain and surprise, and jump in place while flinging Kogasa's umbrella around and strikes Ichirin on her forehead right after she turns around to ask what is going on, making her wave her arms around while screaming, and making Unzan run away to the room in a fright.

Inside the temple's foyer, Ichirin lies dazed on the ground with spinning eyes, Byakuren blushes and angrily cries while Minamitsu tries to explain herself, while out on the entrance, Kogasa groans while lying on the floor and holding the back of her head, Nazrin keeps blowing on her tail's wound, and Shou grumbles angrily while going back up the stairs.

After seeing the mess, Nue starts to chuckle, then a large golden washtub falls right on her head, making her fall and slither down the stair to the ground.

* * *

In the air, Tenshi, Rika and Youmu do their best to fly at a fast and steady pace.

Rika looks at Tenshi and asks "Tenshi, what are we going to do? That spirit is still after us, we can't harm it..."

Youmu finishes for Rika, saying "and it wants our swords. I can't handle a spirit like that without Yuyuko-sama here with me!"

Annoyed, Tenshi looks at the girls through the corners of her eyes and asks in an annoyed undertone "so, what do you want me to do about it?"

Rika looks away, thinking while rubbing her chin, and Youmu grabs Tenshi by the collar of her shirt, shakes her around, and shouts "you're a celestial! You're supposed to be a holy being, so do something holy!"

As if nothing happened, Tenshi continues to fly with a bored expression on her face and replies "I hit him with my best shot. What else do you want me to do?"

Youmu start to cry and says "great! I have to run away from a crazed spirit that wants my swords while carrying this basket and wearing such embarrassing outfit!"

Rika suddenly starts looking ahead, shielding the sun from her eyes with her hand, then says "hey, who's that up ahead?"

Youmu narrows her eyes and says "I don't know. Looks like a giant bug."

Tenshi smiles and casually says "hey, the spirit's there."

Rika's and Youmu's eyes almost pop right out of their sockets with surprise, and when they look behind, the spirit is just 3 feet away, smiling and blushing while staring straight at Youmu.

Youmu immediately notices and tries to cover herself with her hands and ghost half, sweating nervously while shouting "HEY! Where are you looking at, you pervert?"

The spirit stutters nervously while trying to look elsewhere, then tries to win Youmu over by saying "I-I'm sorry, my lady. I just couldn't keep my eyes away from your beauty!"

By now, Youmu's ghost half blushes along with Youmu and tries its best to get in the way, while Youmu's hair stands on end as she shouts "WHAT? You sick, sick pervert, I'm gonna seal you in Makai for that!"

Without realizing it, Youmu and the spirit have stopped flying and are hovering above the Bamboo Forest while arguing.

The spirit nervously says "er, n-no, wait, that's not what I mean! I mean that you are beautiful, that's all!"

Youmu gasps, her lips wriggle, and her eyes hide under a pink blush as she screams "you sick pervert, you like little girls? Eww, get away from me, you dirty old man!"

While they argue, Tenshi grabs Rika by wrapping her neck with her arm, whispering "just go. While they're distracted!"

Rika smiles sheepishly as she asks "but shouldn't we help her?"

After getting far away from Youmu and the spirit, Tenshi sighs with relief and lets go of Rika's neck, saying "phew, now I'll go back to heaven, and you can go back home. Simple, isn't it?"

Rika stomps the air, making a sound as though she just stepped on wood, and says "Tenshi Hinanai, I am appalled! She helped us out earlier, so it is only right that WE help her out now!"

Tenshi slouches, letting her arms hang in the air as she sighs, expelling a puff of air, then says "fine, fine! What should we do?"

Rika looks at Tenshi with determined and serious eyes, then says "I have no clue."

Tenshi smiles at Rika, then suddenly gasps and stutters, then flies away as fast as she can.

Rika looks at her with curiosity, then looks back.

Youmu zips by just then, grabbing Rika by her arm, shouting "RUN AWAY!", and by the time Rika notices, the spirit is right behind them with hearts for eyes, as he chases after them.

Meanwhile, farther ahead, Wriggle flies above the bamboo shoots, saying to herself "ah, what a beautiful afternoon. Nothing could go wrong on a day like this, right?"

A tiny firefly on her shoulder nods, then suddenly jumps and flies to the ground.

Confused, Wriggle stops and whispers "was it something I said?"

Tenshi zips by Wriggle, making her spin uncontrollably in the air, and just as she is stopping, Youmu and Rika zip by, Rika shouting "sorry little one~"

Wriggle finally stops spinning, then looks to the girls, angrily shakes her fist, then shouts "HEY! Be more careful, you stupid humans!"

She crosses her arms, feeling accomplished, then says "there! That'll show them!"

Without warning, the spirit crashes against her, sending her spinning to the ground with great force, and the moment she touches the ground, an explosion of atomic proportions unsettles all the people in Gensokyo, even Yuyuko, who happily munches on a rice ball in her shrine, all the way back at the Netherworld, and says "oh my. Youmu better not be slacking off, or I'll have to punish her again~"

To her right, Yukari sips on some tea while smiling and nodding.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aya arrives to the Sanzu River with Akyuu's letter, and to her luck, she finds Shikieiki lecturing Komachi, who has fallen asleep on her knees through mid-lecture.

Desperate, Aya calls "Enma-sama! Enma-sama!"

A small vein pulsates on Shikieiki's forehead as she turns a disturbing smiling face at Aya, and asks "don't you see I am in the middle of a very important lecture?"

Aya gulps as her face turns blue and her eyes almost disappear, leaving only two white dots in their stead, then nervously says "I-I-I... th-that is, I... have a message for you from miss Hieda. I-i-it's important."

Shikieiki stares relaxed at Aya for a moment, then smiles and says "oh the spirit... that's right, I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me."

Aya relaxes but gets surprised at Shikieiki's reply, then asks "you knew? Then why did I come all the way down here?"

Shikieiki continues to smile as she says "to remind me of this important task. Don't worry though, it'll be taken care of. I'll just need the Hakurei Maiden's help on this one."

Aya continues to stare at Shikieiki, who suddenly asks "now, miss Shameimaru. Wasn't there supposed to be someone else with you?"

Aya looks away, trying to hide her eyes by turning them as far to the left as possible, and while scratching the right side of her face, she asks "wh-whatever are you talking about?"

Shikieiki's smile turns dangerous, and an ominous shadow casts itself over the yama's face as she asks "are you trying to lie to me, miss Shameimaru?"

Aya backs away, the terror on her face returning as she stutters and tries to run away, just to the struck on the head by Shikieiki's golden sword.

A few yards back, Hatate is stuck face-first inside a tall hollow tree trunk, letting the sky see her purple panties as she swings her legs around, saying to herself "when I get my camera on her, she won't be able to show her damned face out in public for a month!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Tenshi, Rika and Youmu have gone back to running away on foot while the spirit continues his relentless chase, having run over three familiar mischievous fairies, Rumia, and having left Agava in pieces on the ground.

The shadow youkai looks around with her blue eyes, then looks at her hand, waves at herself, then sighs and says "At least my torso is close by..."

Youmu looks at their surroundings and shouts "oh no, we're headed to the subterranean caves!"

Tenshi gasps and says "this is bad! We have to turn around!"

Rika shouts "but he's right behind us!"

A girl's voice says "I'll help! Just keep running until I tell you to stop!"

Tenshi, Rika and Youmu stare at each other, then shrug at the same time and just continue running.

Up ahead, waiting on a tree branch, Yamame watches as the girls run by, then swings down and makes a perfect web as fast as she can, trapping the spirit with it as he runs through it, breaking it and wrapping himself with the strong net due to the momentum of his speed.

Yamame smirks and shouts "DONE!"

The three girls stop running and see the spirit trapped by the web after turning around.

They walk closer to Yamame to thank her properly, but before they can do just that, Satori and Orin jump from behind some bushes, Orin exclaims "good job, sis!"

Satori calmly adds "now we can seal him up again."

Satori looks at Rika, then says "miss Rika, what you did was very irresponsible. I can't believe you'd do something as reckless."

Rika's face turns red as she lowers her head and says "I'm... sorry."

Tenshi laughs and says "there, there. If it makes you feel better, your blunders make my days much brighter."

Youmu shouts "HEY! You didn't have to go and do that!"

Tenshi replies "yeah, yeah, whatever."

Orin pats Rika's back, then says "aww, cheer up, miss. This could have happened to anyone."

Rika raises her head with a smile, then says "th-thank you miss Orin", and before she Realizes it, both Orin and Yamame are all over Rika, Orin purring contently while forcing Rika to pet her head, and Yamame pressing herself against Rika's arm.

The diamond on Rika's sword immediately glows bright blue twice, then settles down again.

Satori approaches the spirit, kneels next to his left, then says "you're a real pervert. That girl could be your great-great-granddaughter."

The spirit blushes as he looks away in anger, then says "love knows not age!"

Satori subtly points at him with her left hand and says "Lolita~"

The spirit smiles and says "complex! ... Wait a minute! Gah, I fell for it!"

After the girls laugh, Satori approaches Youmu, then says "miss Youmu, how could you? That poor thing, let her out of there this instant!"

Youmu gasps with surprise and asks "wait, how did you-?"

Before she can finish, Satori flicks one of the harnesses from the basket, and Mystia pops her head and wings from inside, shouting "FREEDOM!", and trying to fly away with all her might, taking Youmu along with her.

The spirit stands on his feet, free from Yamame's web, and with great surprise, he gasps and says "why, I can't believe this! Such a beautiful girl abusing that poor little sparrow! I'm sorry, miss, but our relationship is over!"

While flying away by force, Youmu shouts "what relationship, you old pervert?"

Rika, Tenshi, Yamame, Orin and Satori suddenly realize the spirit is free after he turns around and smiles at them, then he says "now, miss Rika, miss Tenshi, if you so kindly hand over your swords, I'll be on my way."

Tenshi and Rika are already up on the sky, Rika being held by Tenshi, since she didn't want to leave the others behind.

The spirit smirks, then says "well, at least I got my priorities straightened out again."

Before the three remaining girls can do anything, they find themselves flying in the air with spinning eyes, except for Satori, who looks as expressionless as ever as she flies through the air, while her third eye is the one spinning, all because the spirit takes off so fast, he runs over all of them with great force.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yumemi and Chiyuri walks away from the Myouren temple with disappointed faces, Yumemi looking particularly disappointed.

Chiyuri sighs, then says "cheer up. We'll get that flying ship eventually."

Yumemi raises her head to stare at Chiyuri, then says "what are you talking about. Who cares about an old flying ship. I wanted to hear more of Byakuren's magical stories."

Chiyuri smiles with annoyance in her eyes, then asks "so you rather hear stories of ancient times, instead of taking something as awesome as a magical flying ship?"

Yumemi pokes her own chin as she looks up to the late noon sky, then she sees Tenshi and Rika land right in front of them and run away as if their lives depended on it.

Both Chiyuri and Yumemi stare curiously at the girls, then Yumemi feels as though she's being pushed down by a pair of feet, while Chiyuri feels as if a train it tackling her from behind, just before being flung high to the air.

The spirit continues his chase, ignoring the two girls he just run over, while Yumemi shivers as she tries to get up, weakly calling "Chi... Chiyuri~"

A giant saluting image of Chiyuri appears in the sky, while the real Chiyuri becomes a flickering star in the distance, and after seeing this, Yumemi gives up and falls unconscious on the ground, whispering "so magical."

* * *

Tenshi and Rika are getting tired, breathing heavily through their mouths while still running toward the Youkai forest.

Tired, Rika asks "Tenshi, are you getting tired too?"

Annoyed and tired, Tenshi replies "I'm exhausted. I wanna go home and sleep this off!"

Rika smile and says "I... I hear you. Oh, I just hope miss Reimu is doing alright without me."

Tenshi opens her mouth to reply to that, but she and Rika feel as though they crash against something slim and small, and after a few yelps and shrieks, they find themselves sitting, while still running.

Amazed, Tenshi exclaims "whoa! We're so good, we're running while sitting!"

From below Tenshi, a girl shouts "hey, what's the big idea? Get off our shoulders this instant!"

When Tenshi and Rika look down, they realize they are sitting on the shoulders of the young autumn goddesses and sisters, Minoriko and Shizuha Aki.

Shizuha, who carries Rika, looks to Minoriko, who carries Tenshi, and says "Minoriko-chan, don be so rude. I thought you learned how to be nice by now, ever since that incident."

Minoriko grumbles, then says "don't remind me. Geez, I still can't believe the humans liked you better, just because you were cute."

Shizuha starts to cry, then Minoriko sighs and says "come on nee-san. You are still cute," then whispers "just not that much, thankfully."

Tenshi lightly knocks on Minoriko's head and says "sorry to interrupt your little sisterly moment, but could you let us down already."

Rika smiles at Tenshi, then says "Tenshi~, you forgot to say 'please'. Don't be rude."

Tenshi groans while grabbing her hair with her hands, then says "PLEASE, let us down already!"

The sisters stop running, then Tenshi and Rika get off their backs, Rika saying "thank you so much."

Curious, Minoriko asks "and why exactly are you two in such a hurry?"

Tenshi opens her mouth to answer, but the spirit's voice beats her to it, saying "they refuse to give me their swords, so I must chase them and kill them for them."

Minoriko and Shizuha immediately frown at the unwelcome spirit, and sounding angry, Minoriko asks "who the hell are you?"

In a challenging tone, Shizuha adds "evil spirit, you are messing with a pair of goddesses now! Prepare yourself!"

The spirit smiles as he continues to look at Tenshi and Rika, his black eyes starting to glow red, then says "my apologies, little goddesses, but I have no intention to stop now."

He leans his body, ready to start running again, so Rika and Tenshi immediately start running before him, and just like that, the spirit runs over the two goddesses, stomping hard on the back of their heads, burying them on the ground, then continues his chase for the swords.

After a short while, Minoriko manages to pull her head from the ground, then rushes to help her sister up, asking "Shizuha, are you alright?"

After pulling her sister out, she kneels down and gently places her head on her lap, and stares at her sister's spinning eyes, then sighs and says "Shizuha. We really need to work on our reaction time."

Shizuha only moans as a reply, then Minoriko gently combs her hair with her fingers while looking up at the slowly darkening sky.

* * *

Inside the Youkai forest, Tenshi and Rika feel they are losing speed as their strength slowly wanes, then Rika says "T-Tenshi, if we can find... that shrine... maybe those... goddesses can help!"

Almost in tears due to her exhaustion, Tenshi replies "hah, th-then let's, hah, move! He's ga, hah, gaining on us!"

Just after Tenshi finishes speaking, she and Rika run past Nitori, who has her optical camouflage already activated.

After the girls pass by, she reveals herself with a curious face, and with an even more curious tone of voice, she asks "gee, I wonder what's going on?"

Before long, the spirit runs over her, making a loud cracking noise under his feet, yet ignoring it and continuing the chase for the girls.

Struggling, Nitori pulls a radio from one of her many skirt pockets, then grunts as she says "c-come in... Ju-Julia."

From the radio, a woman replies "how may I be of service, lady Nitori?"

Nitori grunts as she presses the button on the radio, then says "track my signal... and send a medic bot... I can't feel my legs."

Happily, Julia replies "why, of course, lady Nitori. Don't move. The medic bots will be there soon."

Nitori lies on the ground with a smile on her face, drooling as she blankly stares to her right.

Further into the forest, the girls shout to Hina, who is calmly tending to some small flowers under a large tree, to get out of the way.

Curious, Hina stands up and stares at the girls running to her, then gasps and says "oh my, so much misfortune. Don't worry, ladies. I'll take care of that right this instant!"

She begins to spin clockwise and starts to absorb the girls' misfortune, but forgets to get out of the way, like the two girls desperately asked, and ends up flinching and crouching on the ground, clenching her eyes and raising her fists to her head for protection as the girls run by.

After the girls pass by, Hina opens her eyes and stands up, saying "oh my, I couldn't absorb that misfortune. I wonder why..."

Hina suddenly gasps and says "oh my, that poor girl."

Before she can do anything else, the spirit tackles her left shoulder and causes her to spin counter-clockwise, making her release many curses and misfortunes.

One of the curses falls right on top of Momiji's head, who is stretching on top of a large stone on the riverside as she says "ahh, it's been such a quiet day. Too bad the kappa didn't come by. A game of Shogi would have been perfect. Ah well, I best head... eh?"

The stone under her feet cracks, and Momiji finds herself falling to the river, where she is dragged by an unexplainable strong current, all the way toward the exit of the forest.

Meanwhile, Hina continues to spin uncontrollably as she shouts "someone save me~"

Finally, she feels herself slowing down, so she tries to help herself by using her leg as a break, and just as she places her right leg on the ground, a large silver washtub falls hard on her head, making her fall to the ground, where she rolls all the way toward the river, where she joins Momiji and countless other youkai and fairies as they all scream while being dragged down by the mysterious currents.

Catching the completely dazed Hina, Momiji sighs, face palms, then says "it was almost... just almost, a perfect day!"

* * *

Finally, after the last bit of sunlight disappears, Rika and Tenshi reach the Youkai Mountain.

Exhausted and out of breath, Tenshi exclaims "we made it!"

Rika pants for a bit, then says "we just need to fly to the top! Come on!"

Both girls try to fly, but immediately find out they are too exhausted to even manage a quick hop.

Desperately, Tenshi exclaims "I can't fly! Dammit, I can't fly! Do something, winged girl!"

Rika flaps her wings, and just like that, her Soraogan mode cancels by itself, then she says "no! I-I'm too tired! S-someone help!"

The spirit arrives just then, smiling widely as he says "and so, my young ladies, our chase comes to an end. Please, hand over your swords, and nobody will have to get hurt."

Annoyed, Tenshi unsheathes her sword and stares back defiantly, yet finds herself too tired to even manage to speak.

Rika stares worriedly at Tenshi, then the spirit, then unsheathes her family sword before asking "why?"

The spirit stares at Rika for a moment, then Rika asks "why are you chasing us? What did we ever do to you?"

Almost out of breath, Tenshi adds "why so obsessed... with our swords?"

The spirit unsheathes the lower left sword from his back, then says "how rude of me. I haven't even explained myself to you. You see, all these swords I have? They are all artifact swords. Like this one in my hands. It has the unique power to revive or seriously injure anyone or anything, all depending on what the master desires at the moment."

Rika stands beside Tenshi, glaring back at the spirit, then shouts "that has nothing to do with us!"

The spirit chuckles, then says "you don't seem to get it, my dear lady. I am a collector, and a darned good one at that. Once I set my sight on a sword, nothing stands in my way, and you see, both your swords are unique, and once I have them, I'll leave you alone, then go look for that meat-eating beauty of a half spirit's swords."

Sounding almost desperate and out of breath, Tenshi shouts "you can go to hell first!"

The spirit smiles, then says "but that's where I came from, my dear. I don't plan on going back there, so just give up your swords, and you can go home. Simple as that."

Rika shouts "never! You certainly are an evil spirit! Taking someone else's swords, just because they are unique! You disgust me!"

The spirit frowns, then asks "so, you aren't giving them to me, no matter what?"

Tenshi and Rika, though exhausted, are prepared to fight, holding their swords tight while glaring back at the spirit.

The spirit laughs heartily as his eyes turn from black to blood red, then he says "fine, let's do it the hard way. Now, don't say I didn't give you the chance."

He lifts his left arm, and a lime-green bolt flies from his hand toward Tenshi and Rika, making them both scream in pain as they drop on their knees on the ground while the magical energy surrounds them.

With an evil smile on his face, the spirit opens his eyes wider and says "I also forgot to mention, before I got my first sword, I had to resort to magic. Sorry, I forgot to MENTION THIS BEFORE!"

Tenshi and Rika kneel on the ground, unable to fight back the pain, as the spirit laughs at them, draining them of the little strength left in them.

* * *

To be continued...

Characters, Spell cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Agava was created by Willie G.R.

Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

Rika's Wind Sign, "Neppa Senpuujin" (Wind Sign "Searing Gale") was created by Snapshot 2010.

Story by Snapshot 2010

JUL 19 2010

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

**A/N:**

**We are reaching the end of this small spin-off, and getting closer to the opening of the next Sukima story! But before that, I want to apologize I'm taking so long to post these. You see, while I write Sword x Sword, I am also writing a back story for Remilia and the SDM cast. It's REALLY hard, but it's coming along great. I'll be posting the first two chapters VERY soon. Anyway, once I finish this, I'll start working on the new Sukima story, while I work on that back story too. Hope you are enjoying this read, thanks for reading, take care, and see you next chapter, if the spirits will allow.**


	3. Chapter 3

Nighttime, in the skies of Gensokyo.

Yamame, Orin and Satori fly through the sky, searching everywhere for Rika, Tenshi, and the spirit.

Satori tags behind the girls while looking around, then the thought suddenly strikes her.

She looks at Yamame and Orin and reads their minds, only to find food in there, so she asks "girls, what's this sudden obsession over finding those girls?"

Yamame and Orin look back at Satori, then look at each other, then Yamame smiles, giggles, and says "we have to repay Rika's kindness."

Orin immediately adds "yes, miss Satori. It's not every day we get treated to such tasty foods!"

Satori keeps her cool and collected face as she asks "wait, when did that happen?"

Yamame blushes and says "that little dead sparrow was especially tasty."

Orin giggles and adds "it was so nice of Rika to hold that service before cooking it."

Looking a little more confused, Satori asks "but when did all that happen? I didn't even smell any food there. She was even standing there, next to the celestial all the time!"

Yamame smiles back and says "you were too busy picking on that spirit, miss Satori."

Orin adds "you should keep your eyes open, Satori-sama", then looks at Yamame with a smile and exclaims "still, cooking all that food in just five seconds was pretty amazing!"

Yamame covers her drooling mouth, slurps, then says "oh yes, I totally agree!"

As the two girls giggle amongst themselves, a sweat drop falls down Satori's left cheek as she grabs her third eye, points it at herself, then says "dear mind, we have been abandoned."

Satori looks ahead as Yamame says "oh, I really hope Rika comes to meet Kisume. I'm sure she'll like her a lot."

Orin chuckles, then says "I want to see how fast she can cook again! Oh! Maybe she can cook a corpse for Okuu!"

The two girls giggle, making Satori sigh and look rather annoyed and disappointed, her third eye mimicking her own facial expression as they continue their search.

* * *

Meanwhile, down at the Youkai Forest, at a corner in the Youkai Mountain, Tenshi and Rika grunt as they struggle to keep on their knees while the sword collector continues to strike them with the lime-green bolt.

He smiles with malice, enjoying the girls' pain, yet not noticing that Tenshi has gotten used to the pain, and is merely feigning.

The spirit laughs, then says "all of this could have been avoided, ladies, if you had just given those swords to me. Now, it's too late. You can die, and once you are mere corpses, I'll takes those swords from you."

Tenshi rapidly stands up and charges at the spirit with her sword raised, shouting "not if I can help it!"

The spirit stops his attack to block Tenshi's sword with his own, giving Rika a chance to rest.

Coughing, Rika rolls to her back while on the ground, breathing in as much air as she can before coughing again.

Blocking the spirit's overhead strike, Tenshi looks back and asks "Rika, you are ok?"

Rika manages to sit up and reply "y-yes! Hang on, I'm coming!"

When Rika tries to get up, her exhaustion gets the best of her and only ends up falling on her seat as soon as she tries to get up again.

Tenshi, though exhausted, manages to fight off the spirit while saying "that's ok! I can take this WIMP all by myself!"

The spirit smiles back at Tenshi and says "how brave and noble of you, celestial. Just for that, I'll give you my all!"

The spirit swings his sword with great speed and strength, causing Tenshi's sword to vibrate and make a constant metallic sound that continues for a moment, while Tenshi recovers from the blow, then the sound stops, and Tenshi manages to stumble back to balance.

The spirit smiles and says "well, there's some fight in you yet. Well, it's just a matter of time now."

After seeing Tenshi staggering before regaining her balance for a second time, Rika feels great urgency, and tries with all her might to stand back up, then remembers reading about recovery spells from one of the books in Patchouli's library and Patchouli's own teachings on self-healing, then opens her hands and places them in front of her knees, closes her eyes, and says to herself "I hope I remember."

A mint-green light surrounds Rika's hands, and almost immediately spread around her legs.

Meanwhile, Tenshi struggles to keep on her feet, as every hard blow by the spirit takes a lot out of her, making her stagger backward, until she hits the mountain wall.

Rika finishes the spell and immediately springs on to her feet, excitedly saying "I'm coming, Tenshi! Hold on just a-"

To her horror, Rika witnesses as the spirit takes advantage of Tenshi's fatigue and pushes her sword out of the way, then lunges his blade straight into the right of her abdomen, then cutting her up by slashing further to the right.

She watches as Tenshi tries, but fails to scream while her eyes go blank and quickly drops to the ground.

To Rika, that moment lasts a whole minute, while in fact it only takes 5 seconds, and when she sees Tenshi fall to the ground she loses herself for a moment and attacks the spirit with relentless fury, her sword roaring with rage along with her as she activates her Soraogan mode and pushes the spirit away from Tenshi with sheer brute force.

The spirit frowns with fright as he jumps away from Rika, then says "I wasn't expecting this from someone as pure as you!"

Angry, Rika shouts "shut up and fight, you monster!"

The spirit smiles again, then says "I see. You sealed your darkness away, and now you channel it through that magnificent sword of yours. Now I REALLY want that weapon, miss."

Enraged, Rika lunges forward, trying for a killing strike, shouting "you'll pay! You'll pay for that!"

Filling his face with worry, the spirit blocks and backs away, doing his best to match Rika's attacks with his own sword.

* * *

After managing to push the spirit far enough from Tenshi, Rika stops her relentless attack and glares at the spirit, who stares back and confidently asks "are you done already?"

In her rage, Rika tosses her seal card in the air, and without declaring anything, the card activates and opens the large golden gate, which Rika enters and jumps out of with her fire and water swords.

With an ominous shadow on her angry face, Rika glares at the spirit and says "you dare take a life away, just so you can have a stupid sword! You're going to see the error of your ways before morning comes, and if not... well at least I'll feel better knowing there one less monster like you roaming about!"

She pulls out a spell card from her apron and shouts "Water and Dark Sign, Cocytus: Gessenkohou!"

Rika's sheathed water sword begins to charge up as soon Rika placer her left hand on the hilt, and just as the sheath itself starts to glow bright blue, she unsheathes the blade with a full swing, causing a giant tidal wave to rush forth, creating a large magical lake-like area.

The spirit and Rika now fly over the magical lake, then the spirit smiles and says "you missed."

Still glaring, Rika holds the hilt of her family sword with her right hand, charging it with dark red bolts, then unsheathes the sword with a full swing and covers the entire lake area in darkness.

Frightened, the spirit looks around, trying to see anything, but the darkness is too thick, yet Rika can see him as he shouts "that's is a nice trick, miss, but you'll need more than that to defeat me!"

Without making a sound, Rika starts to swing her water sword, creating many waves of water that settle above the spirit, and with a violent thrust downward from her sword, the blades turn into a thick and heavy rain that falls hard on the spirit, and Rika, using her water sword, controls their direction, recklessly moving them around to cause as much damage to the spirit as she can manage.

The spirit screams as the magical droplets cause actual damage, and finds himself unknowingly floating down to the large magical lake, where his foot touches the water and half of his body gets immediately frozen in a magical ice block that prevents him from phasing out.

Rika reveals herself to the spirits while in the darkness, her face showing undeniable rage as she sheathes her water sword and points her family sword at him, then says "so you want these swords so badly, you'd kill for them, is that it? How SELFISH! A sword isn't worth a life! It's meant to PROTECT lives!"

The spirit calmly replies "you are not a collector, dear. You don't know what you're talking about."

An ominous wind blows behind Rika, then she disappears into the darkness once more, where she uses her family sword to draw a large circle, creating a giant full moon-shaped dark danmaku orb, and as she does this, the image of a fake full moon appears behind her and the orb, making it look like the orb's outlines glow silver, and just as the darkness vanishes, Rika unleashes her attack and watches as the orb explodes on the smiling spirit, making him scream out, his scream echoing to the distance.

* * *

Meanwhile, flying above the fields near the Myouren Temple, Orin and Satori manage to sense the energy being used by Rika's spell, and raise their heads to look toward the Youkai Mountain.

Curious, Yamame asks "what is it?"

Orin excitedly exclaims "it's Rika! Come on, she's over there!"

Yamame gasps with excitement, then says "alright, let's go save her!"

Satori quietly follows after them, then thinks "these girls are very attached to that girl... especially Orin. N-no, Satori. You know how animals are. Give them food, and you win them over. I'll just have to cook something special for her, that's all."

Meanwhile, back at the Youkai mountain, after spending almost all her energy on that attack, Rika slowly heads toward Tenshi's body, then drops on her knees, letting her sword fall on top of Tenshi's making an "X" on the ground with them, then crawls straight toward the celestial, crying while whispering "I'm so sorry, Tenshi. I let him kill you. I wasn't strong enough."

Tenshi's lips begin to tremble as she grunts, then manages to whisper "yo-you idiot. C-celestials can't... die... that easily. It... takes more than... this to kill us. Even... with his stupid sword. It... still hurts."

Rika feels the weight of the world leave her shoulders after hearing Tenshi speak again, then manages to hug her while excitedly, and almost crying says "you're alive! Thank goodness, you're alive!"

Tenshi manages a weak smirk and says "you... crybaby. Heh heh."

From behind them, the voice of the spirit echoes as he says "aww, how touching. You know, if you were at least unconscious, I wouldn't have to kill you, but since you're both so wide awake, you leave me no choice."

Standing several feet away, the spirit stands with his clothes a little broken, and his posture seems to take some energy from him, just to keep himself balanced while standing, yet it seems he took little damage from Rika's attack.

Tired and frightened, Rika opens her eyes wide and whispers "how can that be?", then raises her voice as she says "I hit you! It was a direct hit!"

The spirit smiles and says "it was a very good attack, miss, but I am just too strong for you. Now..."

He raises his sword and points it toward the girls, then rapidly gets closer to Tenshi and Rika while shouting "you die!"

Unable to do anything else, Rika places her exhausted body over Tenshi's to try and protect her, then hears the spirit grunt and a woman's battle cry, while another shouts "Orin, push him hover here!"

Rika lifts her head along with Tenshi, then watch as Orin uses her claws to push the spirit away from themselves and Satori, who fires large red and blue orbs, along with red and blue shards in large circles, pushing him toward one of Yamame's webs.

Satori shouts "Orin, jump back!", then the spirit swings his sword with fury, missing Orin by an inch, then swings behind himself, cutting Yamame's web, and just as he sheathes his sword to get another, a red and white charm lands on his forehead, making his body look more solid.

When Satori, Orin and Yamame look back, they see Reimu, Shikieiki and Komachi standing in front of Rika and Tenshi, all looking furiously toward the spirit, then Reimu shouts "now let's see how strong you really are, mister!"

Smiling, Rika looks at Tenshi and whispers "Tenshi, we're saved!"

As Reimu, Shikieiki and the others force the spirit away from Rika and Tenshi, the exhausted girls smile at each other, then their swords start to glow brightly, looking like a giant bright "X" that flies in front of them, and just like that, Tenshi and Rika find themselves surrounded by a very familiar scene.

* * *

Rika and Tenshi find themselves on the ground of a large courtyard, looking around while wondering where they are, and that's when they see a man holding the Sword of Hisou, Tenshi's sword, while saying "she's just a DEFFECT!"

Recognizing the scene from that memory that presented itself during their fight on Bahva-Agra, Rika and Tenshi look with surprise at the events, watching what happened after that man tried to kill little Rika.

Tenshi whispers "it's that memory... again..."

Rika helps Tenshi up so she can see, then whispers "what is all this?"

Little Rika lies on the ground with the large sword wound on her back, and though in pain, she manages to turn around and look at her attacker as he prepares to strike her again.

Rika can see her parents running to her as fast as they can, but it is clear they cannot reach her in time.

The man swings the sword down without hesitation, only to be met my a little blue-haired girl that stands in the way, forcing him to stop his attack.

In a demanding tone, the man says "get out of the way! Don't you see she doesn't belong here?"

The little blue-haired girl shakes her head and defiantly stares back at the man, as if challenging him to even try.

Clenching his teeth, the man reluctantly sheathes his sword, knowing only too well the punishment that could befall him should something happen to this young girl, so with a loud "hmph", he walks away.

Tenshi looks at the little blue-haired girl and thinks "wait a moment. But that's... That was... me?"

Little Tenshi turns around and admires little Rika's beauty, then kneels beside her with a concerned face, and gently touches her head and asks "are you alright?"

Unable to speak from the pain, little Rika manages to blink a few times, letting little Tenshi know what she's going through, just because of her eyes.

Tenshi scowls as she looks toward the man that almost killed Rika and says "those bullies! I'll tell my father on them! That'll set them straight! Thinking they can do whatever they want. Phooey!"

Just then, Rika's parents arrive, her mother particularly angry at the situation, but both her and the father calm down and turn Rika around so that her mother can heal that wound, yet making Rika whimper from the pain.

Rika's parents and little Tenshi almost cry after that, but for Rika's sake, they manage to steel themselves as her mother begins the healing.

After healing Rika, the woman grabs her daughter, while her father combs her hair with his hand, joining in for a family hug, then set her down next to little Tenshi, Rika's mother saying "thank you for saving my daughter, little one! You are very brave."

Tenshi smiles at the man and woman, then looks at Rika's face and notices she's still crying, so in order to cheer her up, she points at herself with her thumb while smiling confidently, then says "the name's Chiko, which means 'arrow', or 'pledge'. What's your name?"

Rika stares at Tenshi for a moment, and after sniffling and wiping her tears from her face with her forearms, she says "m-my name is Rika. Thank you for protecting me, miss Chiko."

Tenshi sighs with annoyance and says "no, not miss! I am Chiko, not miss Chiko!"

Tenshi notices Rika's face, then sighs and puffs her chest, striking herself and making herself cough loudly, and after recovering she says "anyway, you don't need to thank me. You just focus on healing, and I'll make sure those bullies never do something like that again. They will pay for that, I'll make sure of it!"

After making Rika smile, Tenshi grabs Rika's hand and makes her entwine their pinkies together.

After noticing Rika's curious stare and chuckling a bit, little Tenshi says "with this, we make a promise. From now on, you and I are friends. In fact, I'll come by tomorrow, and every day, so we can play together, like friends should."

Still holding their pinkies entwined, little Rika and little Tenshi smile at each other, then Rika nods and says "yeah! I promise to play with you!"

Little Tenshi says "then let's pinky swear!"

At the same time as little Tenshi, little Rika, as if suddenly know what to do, says "here and now! We here by promise with this pinky swear to meet again and be friends!", then they both shake three times before breaking their pinkies apart, then they smile at each other as little Tenshi walks away, waving at the family of three, then turns around to follow the road back home.

The real Tenshi watches with shock-struck eyes as she whispers "I... I remember."

Rika looks at Tenshi curiously, then asks "Tenshi, are you ok?"

As if not even listening, Tenshi whispers "why? Why couldn't I remember this?"

Their surrounding turns black for a moment before their swords stop glowing and float back to the ground, still shaping an "X", and as soon as they find themselves back at the grounds of the Youkai Mountain, Tenshi breaks down to cry and embraces the surprised Rika.

* * *

While Rika and Tenshi watch their swords memories, Reimu, Shikieiki and Komachi use their danmaku to attack the spirit from the sky, and while Yamame sets up net traps on the ground, Orin tries to land her claws on him, and Satori tries to find an open spot to strike with her danmaku, but the spirit proves to be too strong and skilful, using one of his swords to create a powerful shield while avoiding Reimu's, Komachi's and Shikieiki's danmaku.

Confident, the spirit smiles and raises his arms in the air, leaving himself completely exposed as he says "HA! You may try all you want, you will never defeat me! I will not rest until those two swords are in my hands, right where they bel- OOF!"

The spirit stands stiff on the tip of his feet and drops his sword to the ground with his eyes open wide and his cheeks puffing up, and the girls in the field and in the air all wince at the sight.

A foot sticks itself between the spirit's legs, then slowly backs off, allowing the spirit to fall to the ground, curling into a ball as he writes all around in pain.

Surprised, Reimu exclaims "Parsee? Didn't you go a little overboard there?"

Grinning wickedly, Parsee watches as the spirit slowly stops on his belly, groaning as he tries to get back up, then raises her foot again, then stomps on the spirit's back with all her might.

With every stomp, Parsee speaks, saying "take... that... you... lousy... bastard! Don't... you... EVER... run... over... my... beautiful... BODY... AGAIN!"

Parsee's last stomp causes the spirit to groan loudly, accompanying his painful groan with a loud crack.

Satisfied, Parsee sighs, smiles, dusts her hands, then says "alright, he's all yours now."

Reimu, Shikieiki and Komachi float back to the ground and promptly pick the spirit by his arms and legs, preventing him from writing "so jealous" on the ground with his finger.

Satori approaches Parsee, and while Yamame and Orin join her, she asks "Parsee, what are you doing here? How did you find us?"

Surprised, Parsee says "what? What do you mean by that? I've been with you the whole time!"

Satori looks back with a confused face, even her eye looking up at Satori herself, then Orin sighs and says "Satori-sama, you really need to take a rest or something."

Yamame adds "seriously, you've been really off today."

Parsee smirks mischievously and says "geez, you're getting old, or something. Don't you remember? I was with you when you first trapped that damned spirit. I tried to bash his head with a large rock, but then you made me laugh when you called him a lolicon, so I dropped it."

Satori lets herself drop to the ground, some hair strands standing on end as she wriggles her lips and looks at her third eye, who looks back at her with a sweat drop to its left, then she says "but... I couldn't read your mind at all! I... I didn't see you!"

Parsee sighs with annoyance, then says "come on, I even yelled at you when he cut himself free from the web!"

Yamame and Orin nod at the same time, Orin saying "yup. She did.", while Yamame says "uh-huh, I heard her loud and clear."

Satori holds her head while her third eye start to spin, then says "bu-but... you were as surprised as me when we saw he was free."

Orin smiles and says "well, he was so close."

Satori lies on her side on the ground while holding her head, so Orin grabs her like a child and says "come on, I'll carry you for a while.", while Satori whispers "but I couldn't read her mind."

Parsee approaches Yamame, and with a mischievous smile, she says "he, heh. She's jealous of that Rika girl."

* * *

Moments later, Reimu, Shikieiki and Komachi throw the spirit close to Rika and Tenshi, then Reimu stomps his back, right where Parsee's footprint is, then shouts "SAY IT!"

The spirit groans as Reimu pushes her foot deeper, then says "I-I'm sorry! Please forgive my selfishness!"

Rika ignores his pathetic please for forgiveness, gently swaying her body left and right, while holding the sobbing celestial on her hands.

Reimu asks "Rika, is she alright?"

Before Rika can answer Reimu, Tenshi sobs loudly, then says "please... please forgive me! I didn't remember, I'm sorry! I am so very sorry, Rika! I'm sorry for calling you names. I'm sorry for making you battle me to the death! I'm sorry for ridiculing you like that! I'm-"

Rika shushes Tenshi and gently rubs the side of her head, then says "it's alright, Tenshi. I've already forgiven you. Ever since we finished our battle last time."

Tenshi trembles as she buries her face in Rika's chest, then says "thank you", just before expiring and falling unconscious on Rika's embrace.

Reimu exclaims "whoa, what happened to her!"

Rika says "it's alright. I managed to heal that wound of hers. She's just so exhausted."

Shikieiki smiles, then says to herself "good. They finally patched things up. They must have seen it."

Komachi stands close to Shikieiki and smiles, then says "just like you said, Eiki-sama."

Reimu looks at the spirit, then asks "and what should we do with this?"

The spirit groans with depression, then says "I failed to get my swords, so I don't CARE what you do with me."

Rika sighs and says "you are a mean spirit, mister. Caring more about swords than life. But I guess I can forgive you since you didn't really kill Tenshi."

The spirit bows his head as much as he can as he says "you have a wonderful soul, miss."

Rika looks at him, then asks "hey, about what you said... about my sword and me channeling..."

The spirit now sits with his legs crossed as he looks at Rika, then seriously says "I'm sorry, miss. A sword only reflects what the person carrying it holds. You cannot remove that, ever."

Rika sighs, then nods and says "I understand."

Curious, Reimu asks "did something happen?"

Rika smiles, then says "it's nothing important, miss Reimu."

Shikieiki smiles, knowing what Rika and the spirit were talking about, but keeps quiet.

The spirit now stands next to Reimu, placing a friendly elbow on her shoulder, saying "so, if there's nothing else, I shall be going..."

When he turns around, Orin, who holds Satori, Yamame and Parsee stand on his way, then Shikieiki, in a mischievous undertone, says "oh, you certainly are going..."

With glowing eyes and a crescent smile, Komachi raises her scythe, making it glow blue, then says "going straight back home!"

The spirit screams, and a blue beam of light flies straight back toward the subterranean with the screaming spirit in it.

* * *

The next morning, Tenshi wakes up inside the Hakurei Shrine, and immediately sees Rika kneeling to her right, squeezing some excess water from a moist towel.

Tenshi moans as she sits up, making Rika say "whoa, take it easy, Tenshi. You shouldn't be moving like that just yet."

Tenshi looks at Rika, ignoring her pleas, then grabs and embraces her tightly, saying "you really are an angel, little girl", causing the diamond on Rika's sword to glow bright blue for a long while before dimming down.

At first, Rika is a bit surprised, but after a moment, she calms down and hugs Tenshi back, then says "it's alright, Tenshi. I already told you that I forgive you."

Tenshi nods, and as she and Rika gently push each other back, she says "I'm sorry those bullies did that to you, but I assure you, they got what they deserved."

Rika smiles, then says "I don't really care about that, Tenshi. I'm just glad that you and I get to be friends. And now we can continue our friendship, just like we promised back then."

Tenshi gets up and walks out to the shrine's porch, stumbling a little before managing to sit down, then place her elbow on her thigh in order to rest her head on her hand.

Curious, Rika approaches Tenshi and asks "a-are you alright?"

Seemingly depressed, Tenshi says "we can't do that, Rika."

Worried, Rika gets closer to Tenshi, unable to see the smile on the celestial's face, then worriedly asks "but... why not?"

Tenshi turns around, revealing her smile to Rika, then extends her pinky to her and says "because we're going to make a new promise, to strengthen the old one."

Rika smiles back and immediately extends her pinky to Tenshi.

Watching from her room, Reimu smiles at the sight, then closes her door and sighs, saying to herself "that Rika sure is something."

Orin jumps from Reimu's closet and shouts "you can say that again, sis!"

Reimu shouts "what the hell are you doing here?"

Satori pops from Reimu's hamper, still holding her head and repeating "I just don't get it. I couldn't read her mind, I couldn't smell the food."

Yamame drops from the ceiling on her web with a smile, then asks "hey, when are you making breakfast?"

Reimu shouts "get out of my room!"

Parsee peeks her soaking wet head trough the window, wearing only a wrapped towel, then says "hey, why are you guys in there? I wanna go in there too."

Reimu shouts with all her might, her scream echoing all around the shrine, shouting "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM~"

* * *

~THREE DAYS LATER~

Rika sweeps some orange leaves from the shrine grounds, while Reimu nervously drinks tea on the shrine's porch, trembling just slightly as she presses her teacup to her lips, and her hand shivers as she reaches for the dumpling on the small plate to her left.

She's about to take a bite out of her dumpling when there is a loud crash, and the sound of the shrine's roof crumbling.

As if waiting for this to happen, Reimu sighs, turns around to look at Tenshi, who sits on a large keystone, then asks "what the HELL do you want today, you ANNOYING CELESTIAL?"

Tenshi smiles and waves at Reimu, then says "came to see Rika!"

Reimu grumbles and says "again."

Tenshi smiles widely while closing her eyes and says "again!"

Trembling with rage, Reimu looks at her ceiling, then trails her eyes to two more patches on the it, then shouts "you're fixing that, again!"

Tenshi looks up, then says "darn, I should have veered a little more to the right."

Rika stands next to Reimu with a smile, and chuckles nervously, then says "Tenshi, welcome back. I see you made another hole..."

Tenshi blushes as she rubs the back of her head, then says "heh, sorry about that."

Rika pulls a hammer and some nails from under her apron, then says "the lumber's on the roof, so please do your best."

Tenshi grins as she accepts the hammer and nails, then salutes Rika and says "sure thing. I'll make it look like new!", then jumps out the shrine and up to the ceiling, leaving her keystone on the floor inside the shrine.

After rubbing her forehead with her index finger and thumb, Reimu sighs in anger and pushes the rock outside, where Marisa stands to the left of the porch, eating one of Reimu's dumplings, then asks "ah, so she's back again, ze?"

Remilia stands to Marisa's right, and sounding dignified, she says "really, I would have kicked that celestial right out of here from day one."

Reimu smacks Marisa on the back of her head for eating her dumpling, then looks at Remilia with a smile and says "you know, I thought of doing just that, but seeing Rika smile like that every time that celestial gets here really makes up for it."

Out in front, Rika smiles widely, looking angelic as she happily sweeps the grounds from all the autumn leaves.

Meanwhile, down at the higher levels of the former hell, Orin plays with a brush and red pain, working on painting a very familiar stone.

From inside the stone, the familiar voice of the sword collector's spirit desperately says "come on~ I apologized a thousand times already! What more do you want?"

Satori stands to the stone's right, and subtly points at it with her left hand, then says "Lolita~"

The spirit instinctively replies "complex."

After a moment, he angrily shouts "dammit! Fell for it again! Ugh! Has the yama said if I can go to the new hell yet?"

Satori flies away back to the palace, saying "it's getting hot in here. See you later, Orin."

Orin stops painting, swipes the sweat off her forehead with her forearm, then turns around and says "I'll be there in a flash, Satori-sama~"

The spirit desperately whispers "come on, you can tell me. When am I moving?"

Orin finishes with her red painting, kicks the bucket down to the lower levels, then says "sorry, old man. You've been denied! See ya."

The spirit screams "wait, how can this be? NO~"

On the rock, Orin painted the word "DENIED" in bright red for all to see.

After the spirit quiets down and everything seems to calm down, the spirit says "hmm... well, I guess all I can do now is just go back to sleep."

From the right, Parsee jumps out of hiding from behind some rocks with a wicked smile on her face, she chuckles, then quickly kicks the stone down the hole to the lower level, making the spirit scream as he falls, then looks down and shouts "now we're even, you beauty-trampling lolicon!"

* * *

At Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld, Youmu cries as she runs around wearing only an apron and her bloomers, tending the gardens, cleaning the clothes, dealing with new spirits, fixing Yuyuko's meals, and cleaning the shrine, all under Yuyuko's watchful eyes.

With her face red with embarrassment, Youmu cries "I'm so sorry, Yuyu-sama!"

Smiling, yet sounding strict and annoyed, Yuyuko says "less whining and more working! You be glad I refrained from forcing you to wear this tight little bik... err, what was this called again?"

Yuyuko lifts two separate white cloths on her right hand and shows them to Yukari, who opens her fan and giggles, then says "it's 'bikini' dear."

Yuyuko bows and smiles, then says "thank you", then turns back to addressing Youmu in that strict tone and says "this tight little bikini! Now MOVE IT!"

Youmu cries "wah~ And in front of a guest too."

Yuyuko continues to stare at the bikini, then suddenly stands up and playfully says "I think I'll try this on."

Yukari covers her face with her fan, while Youmu peeks her face with a dark blue shadow that is cast on her face, and her eyes turn to tiny white dots, while gushing streams of blood from her nose.

* * *

The end.

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

Rika's Water and Dark Sign "Cocytus: Gessenkohou" (Water and Dark Sign "Cocytus: Moon Fall") was created by Snapshot 2010

Story by Snapshot 2010

JUL 21 2010

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

**A/N:**

**And it finally ends, with a lot of random bangs everywhere, and Parsee getting her just revenge over the totally owned evil spirit. Poor Youmu, though. Maybe Yuyu-sama really is being too hard on her. Oh! And so that you understand where I got that "Lolita~ Complex" joke, it's from Touhou M-1 GP 4****th**** – Satorin Okyuun. Can't leave the link, but you can find the subtitled version on Youtube under the names "4th ****東方****M-1****ぐらんぷり****: Satorin Okyuun Judging (English Subtitles)", and "****4th ****東方****M-1****ぐらんぷり****: Satorin Okyuun (English Subtitles****)".**

**Anyway, now that I am done with this, I'll fully focus on writing and posting the SDM's back story, so look forward to them. Anyway, you take care and see you next time, if the spirits will allow. On a side note: Don't give swords to Kogasa.**

**NOTE that our favorite celestial, Tenshi, had another name before forcefully ascending to heavens, which is why that other name was used for her younger self instead.  
**


End file.
